


Speakers From the Dead

by liseraptorknight



Category: Guild Wars (Video Game), Guild Wars 2 (Video Game), Guild Wars Series (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dysfunctional Family, Historical Inaccuracy, In-Universe Documents, Interviews, LGBTQ Themes, Magic and Science, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Original Character-centric, Orrian Culture, Past Character Death, Past Drug Addiction, Politics, Religious Discussion, historical revisionism, misgendering (mentioned only), orr
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-02-18 15:48:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18702664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liseraptorknight/pseuds/liseraptorknight
Summary: The Cleansing of the Artesian waters broke more than simply Zahitan's hold on the flow of magic, it broke time. Seven years later an Asura scholar seeks to interview the returned Orrian royal family and understand their relationships with their faith, their siblings, and their world.





	1. A word from the Transcriber

** Transcriber's Note **

These are six of a series of interviews conducted by the Durmand Priory with the residents of Siren’s Landing. They were primarily intended to shed light on the religious practices of pre-Cataclysmic Orr and to clarify various discrepancies in Priory texts but, became an increasingly intimate look into the internal lives of their subjects.

They are currently not distributed to the general public owing to the Krytan government’s objection to samples of the interviews which were printed in the _Lion’s Arch Post_ and _Priory Geographic_. Copies of the recordings are available, however, upon request along with the following transcripts. More formal interviews on the exact chronology of the events leading up to the Cataclysm are also available from the Priory and can be easily accessed from any major Priory library.

The interviewer is Scholar Maroola one of the Priory’s foremost experts on Orr and author of _Orr, a History_. She was stationed in the Shelter Docks at Malchor’s Leap during the Pact assault on Arah and since then has taken a position with a team living among the Returned in Siren’s Landing.

The Priory and the Pact do not condone nor support the views expressed in these interviews.


	2. Tape 1, Side A: Shideh Rashidi

**Interviewer’s** **Notes:** Shideh was the first known of the Returned, she washed up on a beach south of Lion’s Arch around six years before the events leading up to the death of Zhaitan. Prior to the Cataclysm, she served as her brother’s Master of Whispers- a position that combined the duties of a spymaster with those of a bodyguard. Very little is known of her private life or of her relationship with her immediate family besides involvement with the death of Prince Alhazred and her marriage to Ellasal. Contemporary accounts painted her as a very articulate if cold and ruthless young woman.

She is best known in modern times as Commander Aghamorran’s second-in-command. This interview was conducted before she departed for Elona. It is a very political interview couching heavily upon recent events and possibly the most controversial.

* * *

 

 **Scholar Maroola:** **Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. I wasn’t sure, with well- um the thing that you and the Commander have been dealing with.**

 **Shideh Rashidi:** You mean Balthazar? Let us not mince words. The whole world knows.

 **Scholar Maroola:** **It must have been, um, really difficult to parse Balthazar’s return. How do you feel about that?**

 **S.R.:** His physical presence is a shock, but his actions- well they are entirely within his nature. Balthazar is the god of war, not honor. His altar in Orr is called the Altar of Betrayal, though in that case it refers to him defeating an enemy by turning said enemy’s sense of honor against him. He killed his own twin brother and his father. That he has turned on the other Five and on humanity is no big surprise.

 **S** **M:** **Your brother, King Reza, seems to think that as well.**

 **S.R.:** My brother, well, he’s a lot more upset- if that word even covers how he feels about all this. He was closer to the gods so to speak than the rest of us- by us I mean my siblings and I. This includes my twin. You can tell by well, he did not come down to the docks when my ship came in. He usually does. When a family member returns home. It’s- it’s so weird. All this. I remember this place when it wasn’t a ruin, but this- wreckage feels more real than it did when I lived here. There’s an enormity to everything.

 **S.M.:** **An enormity?**

_< Long Pause>_

**S.R.:** When I think of dying in the Cataclysm, I don’t think about myself dying or my family dying- I cannot picture it at all.

The Gates of Arah used to have a market at the bottom of the stairs. There was this woman, she sold goldfish- I think. All of those bright fish floating up in their bubbles around her stall while she’d just sit there with a book in her lap. Sometimes, she’d be talking to this man with a coat that almost mirrored the fish.

The way the sun caught Arah’s towers. Small things that no longer exist. You could rebuild the towers, establish light rail systems again, restore this land to the way it was before, but Orr would simply be a shell. And yet, what the entire world presently faces is so much larger than the Searing or the Guild Wars.

 **S.M.:** **I understand that the Searing and the Charr invasion of Orr was very rapid, comparatively speaking. What was the response?**

 **S.R.:** Stunned. We were just- stunned. Panic in the final few days and hours. I think my brother and the Council resigned to defeat.

The plan, well, my brother’s plan really- evacuate. Get as many people on any ship or boat in our harbors, hold back the Charr for as long as we could. It might be a surprise, but none of us were on the evacuation routes, we were heading for the Gates of Arah. The rest, as they say, is history.

**S.M.: Are you angry with Vizier Khilbron?**

**S.R.:** I- I honestly couldn’t tell you. What I have read about Khilbron after the Cataclysm paints him as an insane cultist to the core- with all the baggage that particular description entails. You might as well have him chortling merrily and twirling his mustache given his depiction in popular culture.

 **S.M.:** **How well did you know Khilbron?**

 **S.R.:** Khilbron? We parted on friendly terms.

We trusted each other within the bounds of are particular roles. By the end we spoke frequently in non-official channels, but seldom sought each other’s company deliberately. I wonder how much of that distance was my reputation and how much his involvement with the Cult of Abbadon. If it was not for him I would never have met my- well never mind.

I knew all his biographical details. He was born in the town of Izz-al-Din Sarayi to a family of civil servants. He studied in Arah’s university, passed the exams to follow in the family trade. Rose through the ranks on a reputation for competence and a willingness to commit to difficult decisions- what’s the Krytan word? Decisive. Some qualities of a person remain only known to themselves.

 **S.M.:** **The argument has been made, you saw that- um editorial in the Krytan Herald.**

 **S.R.:** The defense of the Shining Blade’s use of mesmer magic to comb through the minds of potential recruits to their organization as well as political prisoners and now they propose doing the same to all members of the Ministry both present and future?

My thoughts on the matter are thus- a despicable invasion of another person’s innermost self. It will not guarantee loyalty to Kryta or a lack of involvement with organizations their throne finds undesirable.

As for Khilbron, he acted as I hoped he would- without hesitation. He took the best possible route with the information and tools and his disposal. His loyalties, I like to believe, were first and foremost Orr.

 **S.M.:** **Some people have accused you of being too political to be the Commander’s second.**

 **S.R.:** I have the luxury- and the eyes and ears of the world. Seeking neutrality and compromise in the face of injustice is cowardice.

 **S.M.:** **Queen Mahtab and oddly enough, King Reza gave similar statements.**

 **S.R.:** Contrary to what the Krytan state press believes, pacifism does not make a person or a nation weak. Rather, it is the constant cry for “compromise” and “understanding” when the disenfranchised strike back against their oppressors that constitutes moral cowardice, but I digress.

 **S.M.:** **I understand. You were born into politics.**

 **S.R.:** <muffled laughter>. Oh ask your questions.

 **S.M.:** **What was your personal stance on the Guild Wars?**

 **S.R.:** The Guild Wars? They were Kryta and Ascalon’s problem. I believe we should have kicked their guilds from Orrian soil, and long before they involved a few Canthan and Elonan guilds- then eventually us. The wars were inevitable, in a sense, a bunch of little armies with no war to fight- so they found one.

The tensions flared long before open war and before Reza took the throne. My father was too involved in our Navy to really care about a pissing contest between, as he said “bands of hired thugs”. The battles that took place in Orr, well, they never deliberately targeted Orrian citizens, but neither did they strive to reduce the possible collateral. Markets were fair game- so were religious festivals.

 **S.M.:** **I understand there was a specific incident which led to the banning of foreign guilds and Orrian troops being dispatched. Can you elaborate on that?**

 **S.R.:** The festival in honor of Malchor- an Ascalonian guild firebombed both the Zealots of Shiverpeaks and a Krytan guild whose name escapes me. Early in the morning, as people lined up on the streets to light their lanterns and process up to the Cathedral of Zephyrs.

They then fell upon the survivors, who attempted to flee through the crowds. Most of the deaths can be attributed to trampling in the panicked rush.

I would not call the incident the only reason for our involvement, but it certainly was the final straw. As for our troops, that was not my call to make. In an ideal world, I would have kept them home and just let the Guild Wars burn out.

 **S.M.:** **Who do you believe were the primary aggressors?**

 **S.R.:** Ascalon, specifically Adelbern. He did absolutely nothing to keep his former guild in check- or any of Ascalon’s more martially inclined guilds in check. No official statements condemning the violence. No accountability. No token oversight.

As for Jadon, he condemned the bloodshed, without action. The Ministry of Guilds- toothless, unable to enforce its own precepts.

 **S.M.:** **Do you think Orr had a responsibility to the rest of the world as a peacekeeping force?**

 **S.R.:** I am of two minds. On one hand, the conflict was always between Kryta and Ascalon.

On the other hand, responsibility. Yes, you are your brother’s keeper. If it is within your power to aid, you are beholden to do so.

 **S.M.** : **My final question, in light of recent events is, um,- sorry if this is far too personal.**

 **S.R.:** Go ahead.

 **S.M.:** **Your relationship with the Faith of Six- or well, Five again. How would you characterize your faith?**

 **S.R.:** In respect to before the Cataclysm, or now? Well, prior to the Cataclysm, the gods- they simply were. You prayed to them every night, you went to the festivals and performed the rites. You swore by them. I- I cannot ever recall being involved in my faith beyond the ritual. Faith does not a compassionate, brave, kind, or whichever virtue you wish to ascribe to a person make.

Now, I reject them. They siphoned power and worship from this world and then abandoned us once sated.

Where were they when Ascalon burned? When Orr fell into the sea and my people drowned? Where were they when the Elder Dragons rose? When Zhaitan enslaved us? Do they answer the prayers of Krytan citizens caught between centaur hooves and the White Mantle? Do they hear the people of Elona crying out for freedom?

Parasites. Should they return to speak with humanity once again, they shall have to throw themselves at our mercy- and in me, they shall find none.

 **S.M.:** **What do you see for Orr’s future?**

 **S.R.:** Orr will no longer be a solely human nation. The restoration of its land will be slow, but inevitable.

 **S.M.:** **Any final remarks?**

 **S.R.:** No, not really. If you want to know more about daily life in pre-cataclysmic Orr, your project to interview the rest of us living in Siren’s Landing will bear more fruit.

 **S.M.:** **Thank you for your time.**

 **S.R.:** It was a pleasure to speak with you. Scholar Maroola. You do your people proud.


	3. Tape 1, Side B: Ardeshir Rashidi

**Interviewer’s Notes** : Ardeshir is Shideh’s twin brother. He spent most of his adult life as a priest of Dwayna in her cathedral on the shores of Malchor’s Leap. He was a notable artist in Orr’s burgeoning abstract movement, though by modern definitions, his paintings would be considered post-impressionist rather than purely abstract- as would many others done by his contemporaries.

Only one of his works from pre-Catalclysm Orr survives- “Sunrise Over Fayan-Balat”. The painting was gifted to a noblewoman in Kryta and eventually donated to the Priory by her descendants. It is on temporary display in the Lion’s Arch Historical Society for the exhibition “Painting through the Ages”.

Ardeshir currently resides in Lion’s Arch with his husband, Mason Volker, and is involved with the local art scene. Other things of note are his Mesmer abilities and brief stint as a Pact soldier. He retired after the end of the Mordremoth campaign for undefined personal reasons. This interview was conducted after a gallery showing featuring his work.

* * *

 

**Scholar Maroola: Thank you so much for speaking with me. I am glad the scheduling worked so well for you.**

**Ardeshir Rashidi:** Oh I canceled luncheon with a potential buyer- or should I say, shuffled her off to the Collective’s agent. I know she wants to speak with me, but I have little desire to speak to her. Little too forward- I am a married man.

**S.M.: How do you like Lion’s Arch?**

**A.R.:** Well enough, it certainly is less Krytan than when I last saw it. The parts of it I did see rest in the bottom of the harbor. The new central plaza wasn’t designed with markets in mind- certainly not with the volume of paperwork to setup in there. We lost many of the spaces for art and artists- thank you so very much Scarlet. Smaller bookshops and galleries especially. On the positive side, the city is far easier to navigate.

**S.M.: Why did you choose to live in Lion’s Arch as opposed to Siren’s Landing?**

**A.R.:** Uncomfortable memories. Adapted to this particular location. Orr was not a silent place and living there now- the silence starts weighing down on your shoulders. No market hubub in the middle of the night. No bells ringing out over the water to mark the hours. Just the ocean and the birds and maybe the measured tread of a patrol. I felt haunted, almost as though there were eyes on my back and I cannot shake them. I would walk out of the our little refugee camp and just hear my own blood drumming in my ears.

The other fact of the matter is distance. My older brother can’t judge my life choices. He doesn’t do it out loud, but he does. It’s just this look on his face and I don’t really like it. Don’t get me wrong, I love him and we get along- but…

**S.M.: Is it the priest thing?**

**A.R.:** Priest thing?

**S.M.: I take it you’re no longer a priest of Dwayna.**

**A.R.:** You do not just stop being a priest of Dwayna.

I find that my life is better spent putting my energies towards the creative than to hoping She talks to me. I still pray, but She and I- we need to take our own space and maybe have a really long talk. It’s a two way street after all- faith.

**S.M.: Faith is a two way street?**

**A.R.:** Yes. Faith should be, ideally, a conversation between a person and their deity.

**S** **.M.:When I interviewed Priests of the Six in Kryta they almost universally stated that faith means unwavering belief and trust. You believe in Dwayna or Kormir or the rest because, well you believe.**

**That is a simplistic interpretation of the interviews. Faith generally is a complex matter in and of itself. How would you describe Orr’s relationship, culturally with faith?**

**A.R.:** < _Deep breath > _Where do I even begin? The Faith of the Five, it was five when I was ordained- it was inescapable, but not oppressive. Everywhere you looked there was a shrine or statue to one of the gods. You’d hear calls to prayer everyday- even through the night. Bells tolling. All the holidays and festivals originated from or were religious in nature

I think a nuance lost thanks to Krytan faith practices- Faith in Orr carried and still carries no association of guilt. When disasters happened or people died, it wasn’t the Five punishing us for not believing in them or not keeping their tenants.

How could we not believe in them when all our magical achievements came because of the echoes of Their presence in our lands? They were our protectors and our progenitors. The continued abundance was enough of an answer to our prayers.

Er, there’s people in Siren’s Landing far more articulate about this stuff than me.

**S.M.: Articulate does not equate or correlate with intelligence- or insight. Apologies if my inquiries become too personal. If you do not wish to answer, just inform me and I will change the subject.**

**A.R.:** Go ahead. I’m less of a mess than I was- when I washed ashore.

**S.M.: Why did you become a priest?**

**A.R.:** Truth be told, I wanted to be away from my family. Needed space.

**S.M.: I take it with the number of husbands and wives Zoran married, tensions ran high.**

**A.R.:** Vicious conflict might be more accurate. No actual bloodshed except once. Words were spoken that cut deeper than knives ever could.

**S.M.: Could you elaborate upon that statement- if it is not to personal or to uncomfortable.**

**A.R.:** I suppose I should start with an example- the death of Alhazred, who would have been king of Orr after my father died. You know the bare-bones facts? He was killed by my sister in self-. He was a sore loser with a sadistic streak. I never actually saw the killing blow, but I saw him lunge for her as she walked away. I heard the screaming.

The disturbing thing to me was looking at my father’s face- he didn’t know. He didn’t know about Alhazred’s sadism. He never considered his children could have chosen a different path- that his heir became a monster. I don’t really remember much else besides him screaming at Shideh, and Reza hurrying her away.

The argument I heard was that she antagonized him, but no the winner was called and Alhazred never could take being second best.

**S.M.: Would you say your father played favorites?**

**A.R.:** Hmm, maybe to the extent that he made my mother’s children his heirs, but he married her first. It was her consolation prize, I think- her oldest inheriting the crown as her husband gallivanted around from person to person. On top of being away at sea half of the time.

She was supposed to be one of Balthazar’s soldiers, but her parents married her off to a king who couldn’t even be bothered to remain faithful to her. He never consulted her on his other marriages or romantic partners until well after the fact. That resentment rubbed off on Alhazred, I think.

Nevertheless, my father was a good man. He loved deeply, but there is so much more to love than just professing it and being- what’s the term? “Easy going” with everyone. His love of love led him to overlook the flaws in people. Considering my grandfather's apparent personality- I don’t believe he understood how to raise children besides praise and gifts.

As an adult, my relationship with him improved considerably. We cold talk on the same intellectual level.

Shideh, well, he held her at an arm’s length until the day he died. Never quite trusted her and she- she never explicitly stated it, but she wanted him to love her again.

**S.M.: And your mother? How was your relationship with her?**

**A.R.:** She didn’t really want children. She loved us, but we weren’t something she’d have chosen wholeheartedly. She was- what’s that mental illness where you swing back and forth between moods?

**S.M.: Bipolar?**

**A.R.:** Yes. The clinical sense too. I think those moods rubbed off on Alhazred a bit, but what he became was less on our parents and more on him. Being loved didn’t stop him from turning into a massive twat.

Depressive phases, she locked herself in her rooms and barely spoke to anyone. Worst one was after Kurshid was born.

I am surprised that any of us made it to adulthood with some iota of stability.

**S.M.: Moving on to lighter subject matters, what was working in Orr’s art scene like?**

**A.R.:** Exciting, if I could remember more than half of it. I spent most of my early years in the priesthood consuming drugs. I barely remember being ordained besides this litany in my head- keep it together. Keep it together. Keep it together. Don’t fuck this up.

Shideh told me, that if looks could kill, Reza would’ve reduced me to ashes.

**S.M.: Did you view your drug use as a problem?**

**A.R.:** Fuck no, not at the time. Everyone in the Bayt Fallahin art scene and around Malchor’s Leap created art and did drugs, that was just how the ball rolled so to speak. Now, I believe most of them would have and perhaps should have been through a rehabilitation program.

**S.M.: What about the abstraction movement?**

**A.R.:** It was hardly a new movement. Orrian art, as you doubtless know, relied- relies heavily on symbolism and stylization over pure realism. Pure realism was more of a practical thing- portraiture, landscapes, depictions of the gods.

Abstraction attempted to make a distance between the symbolism of religious art and from the hyper-realism movement. Shapes and colors free of meaning. A familiar object broken into its component parts and then reassembled differently.

This must sound real basic to you, now that Abstract is a very well established art movement, but when I was painting- it was new. It was extraordinary, like an explosion.

My favorite exhibition was this weaver from Siren’s Landing- I cannot remember her name- Ishtar? Maybe.These tapestries began ordinarily enough, with the traditional patterns, then halfway down, the colors melt together, pattern blurs. The warp and weft tangle together and pool down on the floor in a pile of thread.

**S.M.: Was there a common theme to the movement?**

**A.R.:** Finding the physical limits of the medium. Expression. Spontaneity.

**S.M.: Are there any movements today which capture the same energy?**

**A.R.:** The Dada movement. I wish the Collapse hadn’t taken so many of its artists and artwork with it. Surrealism as well, though I suspect it’s coupled strongly with Dada.

The thing about art movements- the thing that fascinates me- they shift around the state of the world in which they are created. Dada only exists in the context of a world where the world stopped making sense. The rules no longer apply.

Take the works of Tatiana Schoettler. Modernism is all the rage in the more- acceptable parts of the Krytan art movement. People depicted constructions of tubes and simple shapes resembling say… a golem or a watchknight. Her paintings take similar form, automatons spouting rote patriotic phrases.

Tatiana is displaying her new work at the current show. She has always been more overtly political with her works. Dada generally skews that way.

It’s a reflection, I think, to the growing dissatisfaction in Kryta. A person can possess all the talent and hard work, but society favors the more socioeconomically privileged even when they spout complete and utter nonsense. So, spout some nonsense yourself.

**S.M.: What about your own art?**

**A.R.:** Ideally, the piece should speak for itself without hefty amounts of commentary propping it up. All I need do is give a brief introduction the gallery showing- themes for instance. Titles. A sentence or two of description. Art, after all, exists in the eye of the beholder.

**S.M.: In your interview with _Raised Pitchforks_ you mentioned a fascination with light in your works.**

**A.R.:** Light? Well you can realistically render light and its interactions upon a canvas or capture it with photography, but the mood of the light and the complexities of its interplay that you only see when physically present.

The feeling of standing on a dock in Arah as the sun comes up is entirely different than a photograph of it. You have the memory, but you will never again feel as though you stood there again. That is the end goal of my artwork- a sense of having returned to the moment captured in the painting, which is ideally a trigger for the other sensory aspects of the moment- the wind on your face, the warmth of the sun, the smell of flowers, the sounds of the market behind you and the bells ringing out over the water.

**S.M.: What advice would you give to an aspiring artist?**

**A.R.:** The usual cliches apply, try and try then try again. Do not fear experimentation with style and medium. Speak with fellow artists, but do not constantly hold yourself up to their work. Make what you enjoy making, not everything has to deliberately make a political or artistic statement. Sometimes being beautiful or bringing personal joy is purpose enough.

Finally, suffering does not define a great artist. Pain is simply pain, even if the act of creation brings some relief.

**S.M.: That concludes our time I think. It was a pleasure interviewing you again.**

**A.R.:** It is rather past noon, I’ll get you lunch.

**S.M.: No thank you. I have a meeting with the Priory in Fort Mariner. Thank you so much.**

**A.R.:** You’re welcome and feel free to visit at any time. Just knock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dada was a real art movement primarily based in Europe after the end of the First World War. It was highly political and extremely critical of war, nationalism, consumerism, and the bourgeois. It was noted for collages and for embracing the irrational and chaotic. You've probably seen that post on tumblr about memes being a form of neo-dadaism.
> 
> I imagine that for Krytan society and the constant upheaval of the Elder Dragons along with never-ending war against the centaurs would inspire some kind of reaction from the artistic community. I also imagine that, given how stratified by class Krytan society is, an increasing amount of friction would occur as citizens became exposed to far more egalitarian societies/organizations such as the Pact. The Dada movement made a lot of sense considering that Tyria is becoming a far more chaotic place.


	4. Tape 2, Side A: Kurshid Rashidi

**Interviewer’s Notes:** Kurshid is the youngest of King Zoran and Queen Yasamin’s five children and one of the most ill-defined. He was, for the most part, dead-named across many historical accounts leading to conspiracy theories and wild speculation of a missing Orrian princess. The only conclusive historical record of him was his status as a druid living in the shadow of the Cathedral of Verdance.

Currently, Kurshid is affiliated with a druidic henge whose main headquarters were located in the ruins of Lost Precipice on the north-eastern edge of the Maguuma jungle. Due to recent events, much of the circle relocated to the now vacated mercenary camps in Draconis Mons with a few members in Sirens’ Landing.

Much like his older sister, he is involved in the Pact- though specifically with the Vigil . Kurshid is currently on leave and has returned to Siren’s Landing with the specific aim of accelerating regrowth efforts. He is in a relationship with a fellow druid and Vigil crusader who has declined an interview for the purposes of this project.

* * *

 

 **Scholar Maroola:** Thank you for agreeing to a second interview.

 **Kurshid Rashidi:** Don’t mention it. What’d you want to ask me?

 **Scholar Maroola:** You were a druid living in Orr, what was that like?

 **K.R.:** We were a proper druid henge, but unlike the others we did not typically isolate ourselves from society. Most of our attention was on the wild spaces of Orr, keeping the elemental flow of magic across the whole peninsula balanced properly. Compromise between demands agriculture and nature. Biological research mostly in botany and zoology.

 **S.M.:** Biological research?

 **K.R.:** Science and faith are not incompatible entities. This may come as a shock to both our people.

 **S.M.:** Barely any historical evidence suggests the presence of organized religion in Asura society. However Primordus destroyed most of our records.

 **K.R.:** It must be difficult to cope with that loss.

 **S.M.:** Not precisely. We are not a particularly sentimental or nostalgic race. This is a very broad generalization, but Asura are more concerned about the loss of knowledge than the loss of culture.

 **K.R.:** I suppose that viewpoint might result from an understanding of the Eternal Alchemy as its own concept. Everything fits together.

 **S.M.:** Anyways, interviews with modern druids discuss more of something they call the “Great Work” rather than Melandru herself.

 **K.R.:** Druid henges have always cultivated a unique relationship with Melandru. She is not nature itself, she embodies it.

 **S.M.:** Like an Avatar?

 **K.R.:** Yes. Very well said.

 **S.M.:** How are the druids taking the reappearance of Balthazar and the apparent abandonment of humanity by the Six?

 **K.R.:** I cannot speak for everyone, but at least in my current hedge and among the druid spirits of Draconis Mons- we are not at all surprised. Balthazar’s actions fall entirely within the purview of Balthazar’s nature as the god of fire and war.

We have always been at odds with his followers. Melandru saw humanity as a part of Tyria with a duty to care for the land and to work with its inhabitants. The centaurs, the skritt, Asura, Dwarves, Norn, Quaggan, and even the Charr possessed a dignity of their own. All belong.

Balthazar, on the other hand saw Tyria as a place to subjugate. A place with endless challenges against which he and his followers could test themselves in endless conflict.

After the Exodus, the presence of a god is akin to rain in the desert.

 **S.M.:** Rain in a desert?

 **A.R.:** We adapted to life without them and prolonged exposure would be catastrophic.

 **S.M.:** That’s a really odd statement for someone who’s part of a religious order.

 **A.R.:** A key tenant of Druid belief is that something must be able to die or cease to exist for it to have ever truly lived. Life and death feed each other. Nature takes corpses and transforms them anew.

Extrapolating further along this path- even the Gods have their own endings.

 **S.M.:** Would you call druids a neutral force?

 **A.R.:** No.

 **S.M.:** Could you elaborate upon that statement?

 **A.R.:** Balance requires action. Neutrality implies a variety of willful inaction- a deliberate choice to make none of your own accord. In practice, the sides of a conflict are rarely anything besides ambiguous and the consequences ill-defined. Neutrality is a form of avoidance- a refusal to face the existence of probable consequences for good or for ill.

I think Ventari said it best, “Act with wisdom, but act.”

 **S.M.:** So Druidic tradition is essentially… religion lacking the central focus of deity veneration.

 **A.R:** Indeed. Melandru merely taught the first druids to examine the flow of magic through the natural world. It was she who charged them to maintain the balance and protect all living things. She advised us until her departure and in her absence, the work continues.

Her cathedrals might no longer stand, but hidden gardens need tended and balance maintained. It goes on- life. One generation into the next. Decay feeds the new growth and on and on in an unbroken chain.

When I grow old, I shall walk to the old henge circle in Orr. I will wait for the light of the full moon and shed this form to become truly one with nature. I will seek out my own patch of earth- my own garden and tend to the balance there. Unity, not veneration.

 **S.M.:** Druids, by most estimations are very weird to speak with- even before the whole turned into an oakheart thing.

 **A.R.:** Ah yes, the sensation of many beings watching you through the eyes of one. Nature colonizes you. You become an extension of a particular area if you inhabit it for a long time.

 **S.M.:** About your scientific work, what was that like?

 **A.R.:** Me specifically? Your people call it ecology and biodiversity studies. I monitored the number and variety of different species in an area, their interactions, and population changes. I spent many nights crouched in a farmer’s field or perched in a tree observing and writing by a dim little light.

Then, data analysis. What caused the changes and why- particularly we recorded a sudden upswing in population or a sudden decline.

Some species have populations which experience explosive growth and decline- like cicadas. Some species remain fairly static so to speak. You have more young in one year with plentiful rainfall and lower numbers of predators, generally not abrupt and unexpected changes. Sudden changes might means something happened. Something disrupted the cycle.

It could be a disease. If the cause is a disease, how fast is it spreading- where did it come from? Can it vector to domestic animals? Can it vector to humans? Was there a flood upstream that pushed the disease or its vectors out of their normal habitat? Is there an invasive species on the loose which spread the disease?

 **S.M.:** What was Orr’s center for ecological and general biological research?

 **A.R.:** The University in Arah. Sirens’ Landing primarily acted as an archive for raw data collected from both Orr and abroad. Climate records. Population records. Samples. Specimens.

The reliquary functioned as a public zoo and conservatory. We maintained a seed bank, performed outreach work. Sometimes it was easy to forget the more religious aspects of the reliquary.

 **S.M.:** As a professed atheist, the concept of scientific inquiry as a form of worship fascinates.

 **A.R.:** Don’t get me wrong, we had daily prayers and ceremonies, but when I look back on my time as a druid- I did so much research it sticks out stronger than-

Religion in Orr was the background radiation, so to speak. The common thread through everything. If you grew up here, in that specific time, never gave excessive thought to it unless that’s the path of higher education you sought to pursue.

Not every priest of Melandru is a druid and not every druid is a priest. Though in these troubled times and in more remote communities, the line blurs.

Followers of Melandru often act as diplomats- perhaps not with the subtly of a follower of Lyssa. We certainly viewed Orr’s place in the world as that of a gardener, cultivating relationships between nations.

To quote Melandru’s scriptures, “When she saw destruction, she brought creation. Where she saw anger, she grew love. With this, Melandru prepared for a future she knew would be troubled.”

My brother is a better source on that aspect of the goddess than I am, if we’re being honest. She is his patron as well as mine.

 **S.M.:** So Melandru has multiple aspects? The embodiment of nature. The peacemaker. Scientific inquiry. Balance. Harmony.

 **A.R.:** All the gods possess multiple aspects. Take Balthazar for instance. Sorry if that is a bit, um, controversial. He sits at the forefront of everyone’s mind these days. Actually no, let us use Lyssa as an example.

Her association is with illusion, water, and beauty. She is also, somewhat, the goddess of statesmen and of intrigue and plots. She is the patron of mesmers, those transitioning from one gender to another, the nonbinary, and twins. Arts. Creativity. Chaos. Mirrors. The hidden aspects within all of us- duality.

 **S.** **M.:** Thank you for the perspective.

 **A.R.:** Glad I could help. Any other pressing questions?

 **S.M.:** How was transitioning into modern life?

 **A.R.:** The technological aspect of it was fairly simple. It resembles and functions similar to what we had in Orr. We had computing and long distance communication, just not in these present forms.

The real confusion came with the political and social situation. The world changed while I was… away.

Kryta shrunk. Lion’s Arch was a capital city not a free one. Sylvari did not exist. The dwarves no longer exist, but I recall trade deals with Deldrimor. We are in contact with races with which Orr never dealt with- your people, skritt, Norn, hylek, quaggan, and the list goes on. Peace with the Charr, but war with the centaurs.

I grew up in a time where travel to Cantha and Elona was as simple as buying passage on the next vessel when the tide went out. A Canthan trade guild established its international headquarters in Lion’s Arch and products from Vabbi and Koruna in almost all the market places.

Then, the alphabet- new Krytan. Very different from Orrian.

You know language is an innate thing with sapient beings. Stick two of them on an isolated island and they grow with no contact. Language. They create their own. Writing is technology.

 **S.** **M.:** Some branches in the Priory would debate those statements, but I refuse to participate in the aforementioned debates beyond historical context.

 **A.R.:** Oh and the magic changed. Different somehow- it just feels different. I do not know if that makes a lot of sense to you, but I can taste in the water. Feel it in the air. Chaotic- out of balance.

 **S.** **M.:** What is your biggest problem as the restoration efforts move forward?

 **A.R.:** Those petrochemical spills in our water and in the soil. You see them as that greasy rainbow film in the pools and over the ruins. They are most of what makes up the distinct Zhaitan smell along with the massive amounts of decaying biomatter.

I have no clue where they came from, they are not decay byproducts. Orr never had large deposits of petroleum- and they are petroleum derivatives, the lab tests returned positive. Burning them off would be extraordinarily foolish. Thankfully leyline energy feasts upon the stuff. As the flow of magic returns to normal, the problem might resolve on its own.

 **S.M.:** I should let you get back to work.

 **A.R.** : I needed the break and it is a pleasure to talk to you.

 **S.M.:** Thank you for your time.


	5. Tape 2, Side B: Ellasal Rashidi

**Interviewer’s notes:** An ill-defined figure in Orrian history. Very little appears in historical texts besides their name, a few fragments of poetry, and their ties to the Cathedral of Eternal Radiance. They married Princess Shideh Rashidi three years before the Cataclysm and adopted her last name. The exact details of their relationship remain unknown out of respect for both their wishes. Lightbringer Rashidi is very private about the specifics of her romantic relationships and personal life.

Ellasal currently resides in Siren’s Landing among the rest of the Returned. They are both a writer and Pact engineer specializing primarily in weapons and other magitech devices. Their creative output finds regular publication in prestigious speculative fiction magazines such as _Eternal Alchemy_ , _Strange New Lands_ , _Distant Shores_ , _Lightspeed_ , and _Flight_. A common theme in their work is the exploration of the interplay between gender and personal identity, technological advancement, and tradition under the pressures rapid social change.

They were most recently interviewed for _Out_ magazine’s article “Break the Dichotomy” which explores the lives of nonbinary individuals across Tyria. Additionally, Ellasal’s novella “Anvil” won Rata Sum’s coveted Gate Award for best work of science fiction.

* * *

 

**Scholar Maroola: I know you’ve been hearing this nonstop since you got back, but congratulations.**

**Ellasal Rashidi:** I’ll never get tired of telling people “thank you” and then asking them, “Well, what was your favorite part?”

**Scholar Maroola: The argument the narrator has with the family members choosing to stay on their home planet instead of taking the risk of digitizing their mind aboard the Anvil.**

**E** **llasal** **R** **ashidi** **:** That was based on an actual conversation I had with a graduate from the College of Synergetics about the risks of mind transfer. Digital storage isn’t as foolproof or eternal as we’d like it to be.

 **S.M.** **: Another theme I caught is the choice between staying to heal the planet or leaving to try finding something else.**

 **E.R.:** Also inspired by a conversation I had with my brother-in-law. I personally believe that the narrator’s choice was, well, ideologically wrong but logically right. Extinction was all but a guarantee, finding a suitable new planet- more statistically guaranteed. They’re both right and both wrong, but not about what their biggest argument was- cowardice and a loss of humanity.

 **S.** **M.** **: Loss of humanity seems to be a running theme in your other works as well.**

 **E.R.:** Well, I did lose my humanity. I died. We died. We were transformed into the Risen. This is- an uncomfortable subject which I only feel approachable through the lens of fiction. I will not speak of it here and now.

 **S.** **M.** **: I understand.**

 **E.R.:** Thank you.

 **S.M.** **: You’re a weapons designer for the Pact and an award winning author whose works regularly feature pacifism as a theme. Do you feel as though that’s a bit paradoxical?**

 **E.R.:** I do not see pacifism and weapon design as paradoxical. I abhor conflict, but that does not make me any less prepared for the possibility. Orrians are diplomats not doormats.

I trust the Pact to use my inventions to defend this world, not conquer it. A huge burden of trust, but I am hardly the first or the only person putting my trust in the organization.

 **S.M.** **: I take it most of your work is classified.**

 **E.R.:** Yes. Though the weapon I pride myself upon the most is my wife’s sniper rifle.

 **S.** **M.** **: It’s a gorgeous piece of work.**

 **E.R.:** And it perfectly suits her needs. Recoil reduction components. A silencer. The ability to toggle between two modes- rapid fire and precision with a little adjustment by the trigger, though at the cost of range.

 **S.** **M.** **: Did you make weapons prior to the Cataclysm?**

 **E.R.** **: No. I worked with other aspects of Orrian magitech. My work did get put into weapons, but not by me personally. My projects mostly encompassed consumer goods and industrial projects. Devices to integrate the flow of magic off the main channels and into homes, offices, businesses, etc…**

 **S.** **M.** **: What do you think of history remembering you primarily as a poet?**

 **E.R.:** < _laughter_ >

I wrote poetry on the side. My so called “famous poems” were published in a small zine circulating around a particular subset of people. I suppose a copy made its way from Orr to a place where it was preserved.

 **S.** **M.** **: So you only ever published those few poems?**

 **E.R.:** I really wish I had not, they were too personal and too fragmented. Prose suits my creative purposes far better.

 **S.** **M.** **: Slam poetry is making a resurgence in Lion’s Arch, but I digress.**

 **E.R.:** I prefer a distance between myself those events- preferably out of earshot.

 **S.M.** **: How were you affiliated with Lyssa’s cathedral?**

 **E.R.:** If you think I was part of a religious order, you can forget it. Not particularly religious with no intention of changing.

My parents were priests for the Cathedral of Eternal Radiance. They met as seminarians. I moved back to the area after university.

 **S.** **M.** **: How does your work for the Pact compare to your work in Orr?**

 **E.R.:** My work now is more into the mechanical side of the spectrum. Little less magic and more tech. It still leans on a foundation of mathematical and scientific knowledge.

Drives me absolutely insane to hear people talk about Orrian magic like it was simply wiggling our fingers and making it happen or our society was run by religious fundamentalists. Religion, art, and science from the Orrian perspective compliment each other. A glimpse into the infinite and the beautiful. One cannot exist without the other two.

The average layperson might not have known the specifics of how everything worked, but we approached magic almost like your people.

Magic to use was a natural phenomenon. It could be measured. It could be observed. It could be manipulated. It followed certain rules and certain principles. We just used it like electricity to power our nation. The religious-dash-mystical approaches to it are just… window dressing honestly.

 **S.M.** **: What do you think about the new papers being published and the research coming out on leyline magic?**

 **E.R.:** An enraged “Well that explains it!”

I wish I had that knowledge and that data back when I worked on the Orrian power grid. We understood how to keep it working and how to expand upon it, we just never were quite clear to the specific mechanics.

The death magic that kept appearing and skewing our calculations. We thought it was from, well, the remnants of Grenth's fight with Dhuum and the closeness of the royal catacombs and Grenth's cathedral. We never knew we were siphoning power out of fucking Zhaitan and if we knew more about the elder dragons besides, they existed and were defeated; we might have realized our entire capital city was right on fucking top of him.

Did you know we probably had Zhaitan appear in our readings? A big pool of energy under Arah. I used to joke with my advisor that it looked like a dragon. I hate that those jokes were right.

 **S.M.** **: I take it you’re tired of elder dragon questions.**

 **E.R.:** The secrets of the Elder Dragons might very well be in our archives, but good gods those archives are massive- the ones only the rulers of Orr could access? Probably twice the size of the Pirory’s restricted archive library.

You would also have to be specifically looking for the stuff and be able to sort through a massive, massive data set. Mahtab is a better person to direct inquiries about archival stuff. I’m focused on the future and the present.

Please tell your scholar friends to take “I don’t know.” as an answer.

 **S.M.** **: I will. Can I ask a few personal questions?**

 **E.R.:** Go ahead.

 **S.M.** **: How did you meet Shideh?**

 **E.R.:** Party. Through my work tangentially. I was working with Vizier Khilbron- a text to speech device. Our libraries had them, but he believed a portable model was worth pursuing. We were also adding a function to, essentially digitize- store our libraries in crystalline format, but I digress.

He invited me because, well, the brain needs rest. I guess the usual genre cliches apply- He walks over to this woman and tells her, “There is someone I would like you to meet.”

Time stands still for a second. She’s the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen.

Our relationship is a very private one. I do not particularly appreciate speculation into its nature and neither does she. The connections runs deep enough to not require constant public assertions of the fact.

 **S.M.** **: What do you see for the future?**

 **E.R.:** Assuming we survive this oncoming apocalypse? A united world and a world at peace. Technological development with a focus on improving our lives. Vague optimism. End take.

Look, I believe there will be a future. This world weathered the Dragonrises before. The truth however is this, what we expect and the ensuing reality will be different.

The best we can hope for is some kind of memory- to be remembered. To be remembered as people who lived, who loved, who created wonders. We will not be the ones who determine how our story is told when all is said and done.

 **S.M.** **: Thank you for your time.**

 **E.R.:** Thank you for yours.


	6. Tape 3, Side A: Mahtab Rashidi

**Interviewer's notes:** A figure who in the historical reckoning is constantly overshadowed by her husband, King Reza, and their advisor, Vizier Khilbron. Queen Mahtab was an archivist and priestess of Grenth, serving in the god’s reliquary in Siren’s Landing. Theirs was not an arranged marriage and it is wildly believed, though still unconfirmed, that the two were involved in a relationship long before an official union.

In the study of history, it is reductive and condescending to define a woman, queen or not, by her relationship with a man. Mahtab handled Orr’s internal affairs. She opened once jealously guarded archives to the general public and is credited with the creation of the first modern library loan system which allowed patrons to withdraw books from collections for certain periods of time. Additionally, she expanded Orr’s already impressive school system, encouraging more holistic curriculum.

She lives in Siren’s Landing with her husband and their two-year old daughter, Kosem. She oversees the recovery of Orrian archives and advises the Pact on the transcription and preservation of historical data.

* * *

 

**Scholar M** **aroola: Once again, thank you for speaking with me.**

**Mahtab Rashidi:** Oh, I do not mind. Another person to speak to while I parse these database records makes the task far less tedious.

**Scholar Maroola: We know the exact chronology of the Guild Wars, but I would very much like to know your personal thoughts on the matter.**

**Mahtab Rashidi:** Not our problem and certainly not our responsibility. Kryta and Ascalon were their own sovereign nations. The Guild Wars were theirs to contend with. Orr was not and is not their “older sibling” to step in when the fighting gets bad.

Perhaps I would agree to send aid to civilians, but certainly not our troops.

**S.M.: Who do you believe started the Guild Wars?**

**M.R.:** Kryta. King Jadon and his administration abdicated their responsibilities to guilds. The wars never would have started had those organizations been held to some modicum of oversight or any standards whatsoever.

**S.M.: What do you believe started the Guild Wars?**

**M.R.:** Rising nationalism masking economic and political interests of a few wealthy and powerful. The discovery of the bloodstones in the Shiverpeaks and in the Maguuma, especially with the knowledge of their capabilities.

To put it simply, the biggest players in the Guild Wars trace their origins to financial or economic guilds who hired protection, then leveraged that “protection” to bully other guilds into line. This lead to increasing militarization and the rise of guilds more warlike in nature. If records were not so sparse, I would advise historians to search financial records rather than military ones.

**S.M.: So you’re saying they were financially motivated?**

**M.R.:** Most wars are, even those which ostensibly present themselves as ideological crusades.

**S.M.: Do you believe the Guild Wars were preventable?**

**M.R.:** Yes. Though I suspect this interview pertains less to the exact chronology of the Guild Wars and more towards the personal.

**S.M.: I thought it best to lead in with inquiries of a less than personal nature.**

**M.R.:** That is very tactful of you.

**S.M.: What exactly was your role before your coronation?**

**M.R.:** I was a priestess of Grenth and I served in the reliquary as an archivist.

The archives here were primarily death records, necromancy rituals and spells, texts on spirits and spirituality, and philosophy. The actual relics and texts written by the Seven Reapers were moved to the Cathedral of Silence about a hundred years before I took the post.

**S.M.: Why move the relics out of a place specifically designed to preserve them?**

**M.R.:** To make them more accessible to pilgrims without disrupting the functions of our reliquary. Much of the work preformed there was delicate in nature, such as the crafting of our grounding crystals, which as you know now also function as permanent archives, data etched into their very structures.

**S.M.: What were funeral rites like?**

**M.R.:** You have seen the recordings of the echoes in the Cathedral of Zephyrs, no? The basic steps remain the same, but the specific prayers used depend upon the deceased’s chosen deity. The final preparations of the body also vary by the same metric.

**S.M.: How do you view death?**

**M.R.:** Death? I am not preoccupied with the subject, if that is what you mean.

Death. It is a transition. A door. A passage. It is hardly the end of one’s existence. I suppose I approach it with calm acceptance. All things die and all things end.

**S.M.: The followers of Melandru I’ve interviewed express the same thought.**

**M.R.:** Well, death forms a part of life.

Much like Melandru, Grenth is balance and guides his followers towards that balance. Unlike Melandru, he is a judge.

**S.M.: Isn’t he also a god of vengeance and destruction?**

**M.R.:** Insomuch as death forms a part of vengeance and destruction. He is not vengeance and destruction in and of themselves, though he grants us the tools to do so.

I often wonder why he granted my people true resurrection. Why so many of us? Why these individuals specifically?

**S.M.: I’ve heard the saying “Never look a gift dolyak in the mouth.”**

**M.R.:** I want there to be a reason for all of this. The pain of losing your nation, your people, your history, and your culture- it has to carry some kind of meaning or-

Perhaps no meaning exists except for the whims of chance, a horrifying thought.

**S.M.: Maybe he wanted people to carry on his duties for him now that he and the other gods are gone.**

**M.R.:** Perhaps, but they abandoned us truly if Balthazar’s words in Draconis Mons may be believed. I shan’t contemplate this subject too deeply or I will go well and truly mad.

Besides, we have more pressing concerns outside the realms of the theological.

**S.M.: On a lighter note, which of your accomplishments are you most proud of?**

**M.R.:** The library loan system. Something truly magical about seeing someone take a volume off a shelf and then realize they can take it with them, if only for a while. To put knowledge once considered esoteric and rarely accessible into the hands of its people- for them to apply to more than simply academic speculation.

I would also be proud of the new schools and the new curriculum, but well, I simply provided the clout a faction of the council required for the vote.

**S.M.: What do you think of your siblings-in-law?**

**M.R.:** All of them or should I run through the list in order of age?

**S.M.: Either way is fine.**

**M.R.:** I love them. I was an only child. It’s funny, they only married only children- I suppose when you spend your childhood with an ever-expanding list of half-siblings. Strange to go from having no siblings to having at least three- four if you count the deceased Alahazrad. Twenty-three if you add the others.

Shideh... there are three of her. Shideh as she presents herself- the silent figure working in the background. Shideh as the world sees her, a knife in the dark. Finally, Shideh as she is.

Ardeshir is an artist first and foremost, not a priest. I suspect he chose the priesthood to escape an increasingly volatile family situation.

Kurshid is the same, but different. He stands somewhere between a scientist and a man of religion with no intention of choosing one over the other.

I miss those who did not return, an I suspect the same is true for the rest of us, even if we do not speak their names. We named our daughter for one of them, Kosem. She was a captain for the Orrian navy.

She, to the best of my memory, was in Kryta when- then vanished out of the historical record. Whatever became of her, I hope she lived a long and fulfilling life. I hope she never spent the rest of her life regretting unfinished business or mourning all of us.

**S.M.: A lot of census data was lost when that tidal wave hit old Lion’s Arch. Old old Lion’s Arch.**

**She could’ve been recorded there. History shows that many Orrian captains who were suddenly left without a nation helped shape the free city of Lion’s Arch.**

**M.R.:** You mean piracy, no? Lion’s Arch’s history was one of the first with which I acquainted myself. An odd experience that, to hear events which were in the future for you spoken of as though they were the past.

I still cannot imagine Kosem turning to piracy. She was so straight laced- disciplined. But she, her crew, they would have had nowhere to go, nothing to turn to. I like to think she became a merchant or settled down.

**S.M.: I would imagine so. What made your transition into this time period the most difficult?**

**M.R.:** Context. A lack of context for everything, not simply the politics.

I remember in the first days, just sitting in the canteen at Fort Trinity and listening to this group of Vigil beach patrol at the next table over. One of them turned to the other and said, “Ooh Minster Cadecus you are simply too much.” At which the rest of them just doubled over giggling.

Only later I heard about the recently deceased Minister’s, well, scandals. Including hiring people to sit around in bars and speak positively of him. Hilarious, but not so much given the full report of his proclivities and activities.

**S.M.: What is your work like?**

**M.R.:** Intensive. I had to teach myself how to program differently. Programming existed in Orr, but it was more nebulous. I could simply write down in normal words and normal syntax what I wanted my algorithms to do and they would be done. Maybe a few changes here and there, but it was not similar to learning another language. Rather think of it as an application for an existing language. Think of the ease of swapping from writing fiction to writing non-fiction.

I just finished an algorithm to scan through both Pact archives and our recovered archives- both in digitized format- for references to Elder Dragons, then refine it further to more than simply folklore or mindless speculation.

If it finds something noteworthy, it alerts me, the Elder Dragon research lab, and all other parties to whom this information is vital. All instantaneously and simultaneously.

**S.M.: Impressive.**

**M.R.:** Still needs its discrepancies ironed out and there is a team analyzing all references we find. Multiple teams I think. Non-digital eyes on the ground. As Ellasal is so fond of reminding everyone who will listen, algorithms, neural networks, and artificial intelligence are far from perfect. They exist as tools in an arsenal, not solutions.

**S.M.: And my final question is, what do you want Orr’s future to be?**

**M.R.:** I want us to rise above the flaws and the prejudices of our ancestors. I want it to be a safe haven in the world. I want it to be a place where my daughter grows up to be kind, strong, and brave. I want it to be a kingdom fostering knowledge.

**S.M.: Thank you so much for your time.**

**M.R.:** You are most welcome.


End file.
